Clutch device for upright vacuum cleaner and upright vacuum cleaner having same

ABSTRACT

A clutch device (400) for an upright vacuum cleaner and an upright vacuum cleaner (1) having the same are provided, in which the clutch device (400) is disposed between an electric motor assembly (200) and a machine body assembly (300) of the upright vacuum cleaner (1), and the electric motor assembly (200) includes an electric motor housing (21) and an electric motor (22). The clutch device (400) includes: a sliding track (41d) driven (300) to move by the machine body assembly; a toggling tongue (42d) fixed to the electric motor (22) and rotatable with respect to the electric motor housing (21); and a lever member (43d) having a second end of the lever member (43d) slidably fitted to the sliding track (41d) and a first end fitted with an end of the toggling tongue (42d). When the machine body assembly (300) drives the sliding track (41d) to move, the sliding track (41d) drives the lever member (43d) to rotate, and when the lever member (43d) rotates, the toggling tongue (42d) is stirred to make the electric motor (22) rotate with respect to the electric motor housing (21).

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a National Stage of International ApplicationNo. PCT/CN2016/075606, filed Mar. 4, 2016, which claims the priority andbenefit of Chinese Patent Application Nos. 201510917499.7,201521029002.X, 201510917466.2, 201521028726.2, 201510917497.8,201521028730.9, 201521029087.1, 201510918662.1, 201521028812.3,201510918544.0, 201521028739.X, 201510918580.7, 201521027156.5,201510917498.2, 201521027158.4, 201521028814.2, 201521028779.4,201521029798.9, 201510918541.7, 201521027550.9, 201510917653.0,201521028784.5, 201510917528.X, 201521028913.0, and 201521030034.1, allfiled on Dec. 10, 2015, and 201610114861.1 and 201620155481.8, bothfiled on Mar. 1, 2016, the contents of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a field of cleaning machineries, andmore particularly to a clutch device for an upright vacuum cleaner andan upright vacuum cleaner having the same.

BACKGROUND

A vacuum cleaner in the related art includes two electric motors so asto drive a brushroll and a fan respectively, in which the electric motordriving the fan is in general arranged horizontally, i.e. a motor shaftof the electric motor is parallel to a mounting platform of the electricmotor, such that a motor housing of the electric motor has a too largevolume, increasing an occupied area of the electric motor. Meanwhile,the electric motor which is arranged horizontally will bring a greatlimit to arrangements of other parts in the vacuum cleaner.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure seek to solve at least one of theproblems existing in the related art to at least some extent. For thatreason, a clutch device for an upright vacuum cleaner is provided by thepresent disclosure. The clutch device for the upright vacuum cleaner hasa simple and compact structure, steady and reliable operation and a lowcost, which may achieve an objective of driving the electric motor torotate.

An upright vacuum cleaner having the clutch device is further providedby the present disclosure.

In the clutch device for the upright vacuum cleaner according toembodiments of a first aspect of the present disclosure, the clutchdevice is disposed between an electric motor assembly and a machine bodyassembly of the upright vacuum cleaner. The electric motor assemblyincludes an electric motor housing and an electric motor disposed in theelectric motor housing. The clutch device includes: a sliding trackdriven to move by the machine body assembly; a toggling tongue fixed tothe electric motor and rotatable with respect to the electric motorhousing; and a lever member having a second end of the lever memberslidably fitted to the sliding track and a second end fitted with an endof the toggling tongue. When the machine body assembly drives thesliding track to move, the sliding track drives the lever member torotate, and when the lever member rotates, the toggling tongue isstirred to make the electric motor rotates with respect to the electricmotor housing.

The clutch device for the upright vacuum cleaner according toembodiments of the present disclosure has a simple structure and a lowcost, and is easy to manufacture and process. By providing the levermember of the clutch device rotatably to the electric motor housing, andmaking the two ends of the lever member fitted with the machine bodyassembly and the electric motor correspondingly, the objective ofdriving the electric motor to rotate may be implemented, therebyachieving adjustment of a tension degree of the drive belt, ensuringnormal working of dust sweep and dust suction, and making the operationsteady and reliable along with a high working efficiency.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a lower end of thesliding track is provided with a stopping block so as to prevent the endof the lever member from slipping out of the lower end of the slidingtrack.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sliding trackextends along a curve.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the sliding trackextends along an arc line of which a center axis is configured as arotation axis of the machine body assembly.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first end ofthe lever member is configured as a hook, and the end of the togglingtongue is engaged in the hook.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the togglingtongue includes a rotating portion, in which one of the rotating portionand the electric motor housing is provided with a rotating shaft, andthe other one of the rotating portion and the electric motor housing isprovided with a rotating shaft hole configured to be rotatably fittedwith the rotating shaft; and a tongue portion having a first endconnected to the rotating portion and a second end extending along acurve facing a direction away from the rotating portion, the second endof the tongue portion being fitted with the first end of the levermember.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the togglingtongue is integrally formed with the electric motor casing of theelectric motor.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the lever memberis rotatably connected to a side wall of the electric motor housing.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, two lever membersare provided and are symmetrically disposed to two sides of the electricmotor housing.

The upright vacuum cleaner according to a second aspect of embodimentsof the present disclosure includes: a brushroll and an electric motorassembly, in which the electric motor assembly includes an electricmotor housing and an electric motor disposed in the electric motorhousing, and the electric motor drives the brushroll to roll by thedrive belt and is rotatable between a first vertical position oftensioning the drive belt and a first inclined position of relaxing thedrive belt; a machine body assembly including a machine body and abridging member mounted to the machine body, in which the bridgingmember is rotatably connected to the electric motor housing so that themachine body is rotatable between a second vertical position and asecond inclined position; and the clutch device according to the aboveembodiments, in which the clutch device is disposed between the bridgingmember and the electric motor, and when the machine body is moved fromthe second vertical position to the second inclined position, thebridging member drives the electric motor to move from the firstinclined position to the first vertical position by the clutch device.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an angle by whichthe electric motor is rotated from the first inclined position to thefirst vertical position ranges from 1° to 10°.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an angle by whichthe electric motor is rotated from the first inclined position to thefirst vertical position ranges from 3° to 8°.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the upright vacuumcleaner further includes a tensioning pulley or an elastic element foradjusting the tension degree of the drive belt.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the bridgingmember and the machine body are separately formed and connected byassembling, or the bridging member and the machine body are integrallyformed.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an electric motorshaft of the electric motor is vertically disposed, a rotation axis ofthe brushroll is disposed perpendicularly to the electric motor shaft,and the drive belt is provided with a twist angle of 90° and is twinedaround the electric motor shaft and the brushroll so that the electricmotor drives the brushroll to rotate.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the brushrollincludes a first brushroll segment provided with bristle, a secondbrushroll segment provided with bristle and a connecting shaft segmentconnected between the first brushroll segment and the second brushrollsegment, and the drive belt is twined around the electric motor shaft ofthe electric motor and the connecting shaft segment so that the electricmotor drives the brushroll to rotate.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, respective centeraxes of the first brushroll segment, the second brushroll segment andthe connecting shaft segment are in the same line, and the firstbrushroll segment and the second brushroll segment are symmetricalrelative to the drive belt.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the upright vacuumcleaner also includes a brushroll casing covering the brushroll, inwhich the brushroll casing is internally provided with a drive beltmounting cavity for accommodating the connecting shaft segment and thedrive belt, and a first air suction flow passage and a second airsuction flow passage located at two sides of the mounting cavity andspaced apart from the mounting cavity.

Additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of present disclosurewill be given in part in the following descriptions, become apparent inpart from the following descriptions, or be learned from the practice ofthe embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an upright vacuum cleaner according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a lateral view of the upright vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 1,in which an electric motor is at a first inclined position;

FIG. 3 a lateral view of the upright vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 1, inwhich an electric motor is at a first vertical position;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the upright vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 1from one direction;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an upright vacuum cleaner according toanother embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a lateral view of the upright vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an assembly view of a brushroll assembly and an electric motorassembly of an upright vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 8 is an assembly view of a brushroll assembly and an electric motorassembly of an upright vacuum cleaner according to another embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a top view of the structure shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a lateral view of the structure shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a bottom view of the structure shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a flow passage in the structure shown inFIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a rear view of a flow passage in the structure shown in FIG.8;

FIG. 14 is a lateral view of the upright vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 1,in which a machine body is at a second vertical position;

FIG. 15 is an enlarged view of a portion denoted by D1 shown in FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a partial assembly view of the upright vacuum cleaner shownin FIG. 14;

FIG. 17 is an enlarged view of a portion denoted by D2 shown in FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a lateral view of the upright vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 1,in which a machine body is at a second inclined position;

FIG. 19 is an enlarged view of a portion denoted by D3 shown in FIG. 18;

FIG. 20 is a partial assembly view of the upright vacuum cleaner shownin FIG. 18;

FIG. 21 is an enlarged view of a portion denoted by D4 shown in FIG. 20;

FIG. 22 is a schematic view of a brushroll of an upright vacuum cleaneraccording to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 23 is a schematic view of a bridging member of an upright vacuumcleaner according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

1 upright vacuum cleaner;

100 brushroll assembly; 11 brushroll; 111 first brushroll segment; 1111first body; 1112 first bristle; 112 second brushroll segment; 1121second body; 1122 second bristle; 113 connecting shaft segment; 12brushroll casing; 122 brushroll air suction flow passage; 1221 first airsuction flow passage; 1222 second air suction flow passage; 123 drivebelt mounting cavity; 124 upper casing; 125 lower casing; 13 drive belt;14 tensioning pulley;

200 electric motor assembly; 21 electric motor housing; 211 dirty airoutlet; 212 clean air inlet; 213 air exhaust hole; 214 dirty air outputpipe; 215 clean air input pipe; 216 electric motor air suction flowpassage; 2161 first branch flow passage; 2162 second branch flowpassage; 22 electric motor; 221 electric motor shaft; 222 electric motorcasing;

300 machine body assembly; 31 machine body; 311 machine body air exhaustflow passage; 32 bridging member; 321 top plate; 322 lateral plate; 37dust cup; 371 separating chamber; 372 air inlet; 373 air outlet; 38rolling wheel; 39 air exhaust pipe;

400 clutch device; 41 d sliding track; 411 d stopping block; 42 dtoggling tongue; 421 d rotating portion; 422 d tongue portion; 43 dlever member; 431 d hook; 44 d rotating shaft;

51 air inlet pipe; 52 hose.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will be made in detail to embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The same or similar elements and the elements having same orsimilar functions are denoted by like reference numerals throughout thedescriptions. The embodiments described herein with reference todrawings are explanatory, illustrative, and used to generally understandthe present disclosure. The embodiments shall not be construed to limitthe present disclosure.

Various embodiments and examples are provided in the followingdescription to implement different structures of the present disclosure.In order to simplify the present disclosure, certain elements andsettings will be described. However, these elements and settings areonly by way of example and are not intended to limit the presentdisclosure. In addition, reference numerals may be repeated in differentexamples in the present disclosure. This repeating is for the purpose ofsimplification and clarity and does not refer to relations betweendifferent embodiments and/or settings. Furthermore, examples ofdifferent processes and materials are provided in the presentdisclosure. However, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat other processes and/or materials may be also applied.

A clutch device 400 for an upright vacuum cleaner 1 according toembodiments of a first aspect of the present disclosure will bedescribed in the following with reference to FIGS. 1-23.

In the clutch device 400 for the upright vacuum cleaner 1 according toembodiments of the present disclosure, the clutch device 400 is disposedbetween an electric motor assembly 200 and a machine body assembly 300of the upright vacuum cleaner 1. The electric motor assembly 200includes an electric motor housing 21 and an electric motor 22 disposedin the electric motor housing 21. FIG. 1 illustrates that the electricmotor assembly 200 mainly includes the electric motor 22 and theelectric motor housing 21, in which an accommodating cavity for mountingthe electric motor 22 is defined in the electric motor housing 21, andthe electric motor 22 is movably disposed in the accommodating cavityand is pivotal with respect to the electric motor housing 21. Theelectric motor 22 may drive a fan to rotate so as to generate an airflow for dust suction, thereby providing the upright vacuum cleaner 1with a vacuuming power. The electric motor 22 may further drive abrushroll 11 to rotate around its own axis, thereby achieving anobjective of cleaning the floor. Specifically, a drive belt 13 isdisposed between the electric motor 22 and the brushroll 11 and is inconnection with the electric motor 22 and the brushroll 11, and theelectric motor 22 drives the brushroll 11 by the drive belt 13. Themachine body assembly 300 includes a machine body 31 and a bridgingmember 32 mounted to the machine body 31, and the bridging member 32 isrotatably connected to the electric motor housing 21 so that the machinebody 31 is rotatable between a vertical position and an inclinedposition.

Further, the clutch device 400 includes a sliding track 41 d, a togglingtongue 42 d and a lever member 43 d. More particularly, the slidingtrack 41 d is driven to move by the machine body assembly 300. Thetoggling tongue 42 d is fixed to the electric motor 22 and rotatablewith respect to the electric motor housing 21. A second end of the levermember 43 d is slidably fitted to the sliding track 41 d and a first endthereof is fitted with an end of the toggling tongue 42 d. FIG. 14illustrates that the clutch device 400 is disposed between the electricmotor assembly 200 and the machine body assembly 300 and is movablyconnected to the electric motor assembly 200 and the machine bodyassembly 300. The lever member 43 d of the clutch device 400 isrotatably provided to the electric motor housing 21, and the slidingtrack 41 d of the clutch device 400 is provided to the machine bodyassembly 300. The toggling tongue 42 d is fixedly provided to anelectric motor casing 222 of the electric motor 22, the first end of thelever member 43 d is fitted with the toggling tongue 42 d, and thesecond end of the lever member 43 d is fitted with the sliding track 41d.

When the machine body assembly 300 drives the sliding track 41 d tomove, the sliding track 41 d drives the lever member 43 d to rotate, andwhen the lever member 43 d rotates, the toggling tongue 42 d is stirredto make the electric motor 22 rotates with respect to the electric motorhousing 21. Specifically, when the machine body 31 is operated by handfrom the vertical position to the inclined position (inclined backwardsas shown in FIG. 18), the bridging member 32 on the electric motorhousing 21 generates clockwise rotation with respect to the electricmotor housing 21, and thus the sliding track 41 d on the bridging member32 generates clockwise rotation with respect to the lever member 43 d.As the sliding track 41 d is fitted with the second end of the levermember 43 d all the time, in this process, the lever member 43 d rotatesclockwise around its rotation center, and thus it is achievable that thelever member 43 d drives the toggling tongue 42 d to rotateanticlockwise around a pivotal axis, so that the electric motor 22rotates from an inclined position to a vertical position. During thisprocess, a lower end of an electric motor shaft 221 moves backwardsgradually, so that a distance between the lower end of the electricmotor shaft 221 and the brushroll 11 is increased, thus tensioning thedrive belt 13.

Thus, the clutch device 400 for the upright vacuum cleaner 1 accordingto embodiments of the present disclosure has a simple structure and alow cost, and is easy to manufacture and process. By providing the levermember 43 d of the clutch device 400 rotatably to the electric motorhousing 21, and making the two ends of the lever member 43 d fitted withthe machine body assembly 300 and the electric motor 22 correspondingly,the objective of driving the electric motor 22 to rotate may beimplemented, such that adjustment of a tension degree of the drive belt13 may be implemented, normal working of dust sweep and dust suction maybe ensured, and the operation may be steady and reliable along with ahigh working efficiency.

Advantageously, a lower end of the sliding track 41 d is provided with astopping block 411 d so as to prevent the second end of the lever member43 d from slipping out of the lower end of the sliding track 41 d. FIG.15 illustrates that the second end of the lever member 43 d is slidablyprovided in the sliding track 41 d, and the lower end of the slidingtrack 41 d is provided with the stopping block 411 d which extendsinwards along a radial direction of the sliding track 41 d. When thesecond end of the lever member 43 d slides to an end portion of asliding groove, the lever member 43 d abuts against the stopping block411 d. Thus, by providing the stopping block 411 d to the lower end ofthe sliding track 41 d, the second end of the lever member 43 d may beprevented from slipping out of the sliding track 41 d, thus ensuringconnection reliability of the triggering assembly, further improvingoperational reliability of the clutch device 400 for the upright vacuumcleaner 1. Preferably, each of two ends of the sliding track 41 d may beprovided with the stopping block 411 d so as to prevent the second endof the lever member 43 d from slipping out of the two ends of thesliding track 41 d.

The sliding track 41 d extends along a curve. That is, the sliding track41 d is configured as a curve sliding track 41 d. The second end of thelever member 43 d slides back and forth along an arc length of thesliding track 41 d, thereby implementing the objective that the bridgingmember 32 drives the lever member 43 d to rotate and the lever member 43d drives the electric motor 22 to rotate. Preferably, the sliding track41 d extends along an arc line of which a center axis is configured as arotation axis of the machine body assembly 300. FIG. 17 illustratesthat, a contour line of the sliding track 41 d is formed as an arc shapeextending along a circumferential direction of the rotation center ofthe lever member 43 d. When the bridging member 32 of the machine bodyassembly 300 rotates around its rotation center, as the second end ofthe lever member 43 d is within the sliding track 41 d all the time, thebridging member 32 drives the lever member 43 d to rotate around therotation center of the lever member 43 d by the sliding track 41 d onthe bridging member 32, so that the first end of the lever member 43 ddrives the toggling tongue 42 d to rotate, thus implementing theobjective of driving the electric motor 22 to rotate.

Optionally, the first end of the lever member 43 d is configured as ahook 431 d, the end of the toggling tongue 42 d is engaged in the hook431 d. FIG. 18 illustrates that, the first end of the lever member 43 dis configured as the hook 431 d of which an opening faces the togglingtongue 42 d. When the machine body 31 is operated by hand from a secondvertical position to a second inclined position (inclined backwards asshown in FIG. 18), the sliding track 41 d on the bridging member 32generates the clockwise rotation with respect to the lever member 43 d.As the sliding track 41 d is fitted with the second end of the levermember 43 d all the time, in this process, the lever member 43 d rotatesclockwise around its rotation center. The hook 431 d on the lever member43 d is engaged with the toggling tongue 42 d so as to drive thetoggling tongue 42 d to rotate anticlockwise around the pivotal axis,thus driving the electric motor 22 to rotate from a first inclinedposition to a first vertical position, so as to tension the drive belt13.

Specifically, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thetoggling tongue 42 d includes a rotating portion 421 d and a tongueportion 422 d. One of the rotating portion 421 d and the electric motorhousing 21 is provided with a rotating shaft 44 d, and the other one ofthe rotating portion 421 d and the electric motor housing 21 is providedwith a rotating shaft hole configured to be rotatably fitted with therotating shaft 44 d. A first end of the tongue portion 422 d isconnected to the rotating portion 421 d and a second end thereof extendsalong a curve facing a direction away from the rotating portion 421 d.The second end of the tongue portion 422 d is fitted with the first endof the lever member 43 d.

FIG. 21 illustrates that, the toggling tongue 42 d mainly includes therotating portion 421 d and the tongue portion 422 d. The first end ofthe tongue portion 422 d is connected to a side wall of the rotatingportion 421 d, and the second end of the tongue portion 422 d extends ina direction away from a center of the rotating portion 421 d. Thetoggling tongue 42 d is fixedly provided to the electric motor casing222 of the electric motor 22. Further, the rotating shaft 44 d isprovided to an inner wall of the electric motor housing 21 correspondingto the electric motor casing 222, and the rotating portion 421 d isprovided with the rotating shaft hole configured to be fitted with therotating shaft 44 d. When the electric motor assembly 200, the machinebody assembly 300 and the lever member 43 d are assembled completely, afree end of the tongue portion 422 d is engaged in the hook 431 d of thelever member 43 d. Thus, the hook 431 d of the lever member 43 d isfitted with the tongue portion 422 d of the toggling tongue 42 d, andconnection reliability between the lever member 43 d and the togglingtongue 42 d is improved to ensure the stability and reliability of thetransmission of movement and power, thereby ensuring the normal workingof the clutch device 400.

Preferably, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thetoggling tongue 42 d is integrally formed with the electric motor casing222 of the electric motor 22. Thus, an integral structure may not onlyensure the structural stability and performance stability of the uprightvacuum cleaner 1, but also be convenient to form and easy tomanufacture, and moreover excessive assembly parts and connectionprocesses are omitted, the assembly efficiency of the upright vacuumcleaner 1 is greatly improved and the connection reliability between thetoggling tongue 42 d and the electric motor casing 222 is ensured.Furthermore, the integral structure has higher overall strength andstability, is more convenient to assembly and has a longer service life.

In some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the lever member43 d is rotatably connected to a side wall of the electric motor housing21. Referring to FIGS. 14-21, the side wall of the electric motorhousing 21 extends along a vertical direction (an up-down direction asshown in FIG. 14). The lever member 43 d is provided to the side wall ofthe electric motor housing 21 and is rotatable in the vertical side wallof the electric motor housing 21, that is, a rotation axis of the levermember 43 d is perpendicular to a vertical plane where the lever member43 d is.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 14, the toggling tongue 42 d is fixedlyprovided to the electric motor casing 222 of the electric motor 22. Forexample, the electric motor casing 222 of the electric motor 22 isprovided with a bracket, and the toggling tongue 42 d is fixedlyprovided to the bracket. A side of the electric motor housing 21corresponding to the electric motor casing 222 of the electric motor 22is provided with the rotating shaft 44 d for mounting the togglingtongue 42 d. The toggling tongue 42 d on the electric motor casing 222of the electric motor 22 is sleeved over the rotating shaft 44 d on theelectric motor housing 21, and the toggling tongue 42 d is rotatablewith respect to the electric motor housing 21, that is, the electricmotor 22 is able to be rotatably connected to the electric motor housing21 by the fitting between the toggling tongue 42 d and the rotatingshaft 44 d. The sliding track 41 d is fixedly provided to a side wall ofthe bridging member 32, the first end of the lever member 43 d is fittedwith the toggling tongue 42 d, and the second end of the lever member 43d is fitted with sliding track 41 d.

When the machine body 31 is operated by hand from the second verticalposition to the second inclined position (inclined backwards as shown inFIG. 18), the bridging member 32 on the electric motor housing 21generates the clockwise rotation with respect to the electric motorhousing 21, and thus the sliding track 41 d on the bridging member 32generates the clockwise rotation with respect to the lever member 43 d.As the sliding track 41 d is fitted with the second end of the levermember 43 d all the time, in this process, the lever member 43 d rotatesclockwise around its rotation center, and thus it is achievable that thelever member 43 d drives the toggling tongue 42 d to rotateanticlockwise around the pivotal axis, so that the electric motor 22rotates from the first inclined position to the first vertical position.During this process, the lower end of the electric motor shaft 221 movesbackwards gradually, so that distance between the lower end of theelectric motor shaft 221 and the brushroll 11 is increased, thustensioning the drive belt 13.

Advantageously, two lever members 43 d are provided and aresymmetrically disposed to two sides of the electric motor housing 21.That is, two opposite inner side walls (such as a left side wall and aright side wall as shown in FIG. 1) of the electric motor housing 21 areprovided with two lever members 43 d which are symmetrically disposed,and each lever member 43 d is pivotal within the vertical plane. Theelectric motor casing 222 of the electric motor 22 is correspondinglyprovided with two toggling tongues 42 d which are symmetricallydisposed, and the bridging member 32 is correspondingly provided withtwo sliding tracks 41 d which are symmetrically disposed. Each levermember 43 d is fitted with the toggling tongue 42 d and the slidingtrack 41 d at a corresponding position, and all of them together drivethe electric motor 22 in the electric motor housing 21 to rotate.

Certainly, the present disclosure is not limited to this. That is, thetwo lever members 43 d may also be rotatably connected in a top wall ofthe electric motor housing 21 and may be pivotal within a horizontalplane, and the two toggling tongues 42 d and the two sliding tracks 41 dabut against the lever members 43 d at corresponding positions all thetime, thereby implementing the transmission of movement and power. Thus,by the clutch devices 400 axially symmetrically arranged at two sides ofa center line of the electric motor assembly 200, not only a system maybe provided with sufficient driving force for driving the electric motor22, reducing a force on a single lever member 43 d and enhancingoperational reliability of the lever members 43 d, but also the forcemay be evenly exerted on the electric motor 22 during rotation, ensuringthe structural stability and thereby improving the operationalreliability of the clutch device 400 for the upright vacuum cleaner 1.

An upright vacuum cleaner according to embodiments of a second aspect ofthe present disclosure will be described in the following with referenceto FIGS. 1-23.

The upright vacuum cleaner 1 according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure includes the brushroll 11, the electric motor assembly 200,the machine body assembly 300 and the clutch device 400 according to theabove embodiments. More particularly, the electric motor assembly 200includes the electric motor housing 21 and the electric motor 22disposed in the electric motor housing 21. The electric motor 22 drivesthe brushroll 11 to roll by the drive belt 13 and is rotatable betweenthe first vertical position of tensioning the drive belt 13 and thefirst inclined position of loosening the drive belt 13.

In other words, the upright vacuum cleaner 1 mainly includes thebrushroll 11, the electric motor assembly 200, the machine body assembly300 and a lever cam member 41 b, in which, the electric motor assembly200 is connected to the brushroll 11, the machine body assembly 300 andthe lever cam member 41 b separately. Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3,the electric motor assembly 200 mainly includes the electric motor 22and the electric motor housing 21, in which, the accommodating cavityfor mounting the electric motor 22 is defined in the electric motorhousing 21, and the electric motor 22 is movably disposed in theaccommodating cavity and is pivotal with respect to the electric motorhousing 21. The electric motor 22 may drive the fan to rotate so as togenerate the air flow for dust suction, thereby providing the uprightvacuum cleaner 1 with the vacuuming power. The electric motor 22 mayfurther drive the brushroll 11 to rotate around its own axis, therebyimplementing the objective of cleaning the floor. Specifically, thedrive belt 13 is disposed between the electric motor 22 and thebrushroll 11 and is in connection with the electric motor 22 and thebrushroll 11, such that the electric motor 22 drives the brushroll 11 bythe drive belt 13.

The machine body assembly 300 includes the machine body 31 and thebridging member 32 mounted to the machine body 31, and the bridgingmember 32 is rotatably connected to the electric motor housing 21 sothat the machine body 31 is rotatable between the second verticalposition and the second inclined position.

Referring to FIG. 5, the machine body assembly 300 mainly includes themachine body 31 and the bridging member 32, in which, the machine body31 is arranged along a vertical direction, the bridging member 32 isdisposed below the machine body 31 and connected to a lower end of themachine body 31, and the bridging member 32 is mounted to the electricmotor housing 21 and is pivotal with respect to the electric motorhousing 21. When a handle of the machine body 31 is operated by hand,and for example, the machine body 31 is operated from the secondvertical position to the second inclined position, the bridging member32 generates rotation with respect to the electric motor housing 21 soas to drive the electric motor 22 to rotate from the first inclinedposition to the first vertical position.

Further, the clutch device 400 is disposed between the bridging member32 and the electric motor 22, and when the machine body 31 is moved fromthe second vertical position to the second inclined position, thebridging member 32 drives the electric motor 22 to move from the firstinclined position to the first vertical position by the clutch device400. Referring to FIG. 14-FIG. 21, the lever cam member 41 b isconnected to the bridging member 32 and the electric motor casing 222 ofthe electric motor 22. When the machine body 31 is at the secondvertical position, an axis of the electric motor shaft 221 of theelectric motor 22 is inclined backwards with respect to an axis of theelectric motor housing 21, i.e. the electric motor 22 is at the firstinclined position, in which case two ends of the drive belt 13 arefitted over the brushroll 11 and the electric motor shaft 221respectively, but the drive belt 13 is in a loosened state. When themachine body 31 is at the second inclined position, the axis of theelectric motor 22 extends along the vertical direction, i.e. theelectric motor 22 is at the first vertical position, in which case thedrive belt 13 is tensioned.

More specifically, when the machine body 31 is rotated by hand from thesecond vertical position to the second inclined position, the bridgingmember 32 on the electric motor housing 21 generates the rotation withrespect to the electric motor housing 21 and drives the electric motor22 to rotate from the first inclined position to the first verticalposition by the lever cam member 41 b. During this process, the lowerend of the electric motor shaft 221 moves backwards gradually, so thatthe distance between the lower end of the electric motor shaft 221 andthe brushroll 11 is increased, thereby tensioning the drive belt 13 andreaching the objective of starting actions of dust sweep and dustsuction.

In the present embodiment, when the machine body 31 is operated from thesecond vertical position to the second inclined position with apredetermined angle, the electric motor 22 may rotate synchronously withthe machine body 31. When the electric motor 22 rotates by thepredetermined angle, the machine body 31 may be operated freely by handwithout influencing the tensioned state of the drive belt 13. That is,when the electric motor 22 is rotated from the first inclined positionto the first vertical position, the machine body 31 may be operatedfreely by hand without influencing dust sweep and dust suction of theupright vacuum cleaner 1. Certainly, the present disclosure is notlimited to this, a rotation angle of the machine body 31 may also berelated to a rotation angle of the electric motor 22, that is, byadjusting an inclined angle of the machine body 31, adjustment of theposition state of the electric motor 22 may be implemented by hand,thereby achieving the objective of adjusting the tension degree of thedrive belt 13.

As the clutch device 400 for the upright vacuum cleaner 1 according toembodiments of the present disclosure has the above technical effects,the upright vacuum cleaner 1 according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure has also the above technical effects. That is, the electricmotor 22 of the upright vacuum cleaner 1 may control rotation of thebrushroll 11 and that of the fan at the same time, the number of partsis reduced, the occupied space is small, and synchronous control overdust sweep and dust suction may be implemented, such that the uprightvacuum cleaner 1 has a simple and compact structure, occupies a smallspace and is easy to operate. Furthermore, the electric motor of theupright vacuum cleaner 1 is arranged vertically, which may reduce theoccupied space of the upright vacuum cleaner 1 and facilitate diversearrangements of various parts of the upright vacuum cleaner 1.

In addition, by disposing the clutch device 400 between the bridgingmember 32 and the electric motor 22, the objective of driving theelectric motor 22 to rotate may be implemented, thereby implementingadjustment of the tension degree of the drive belt 13, ensuring normalworking of dust sweep and dust suction, facilitating the assembly andthe disassembly, and making the operation steady and reliable and theworking efficiency high. Furthermore, the electric motor of the uprightvacuum cleaner 1 is arranged vertically, which may reduce the occupiedspace of the upright vacuum cleaner 1, facilitate diverse arrangementsof various parts of the upright vacuum cleaner 1, facilitate theoperation and decrease the occupied space.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the angle by whichthe electric motor 22 is rotated from the first inclined position to thefirst vertical position ranges from 1° to 10°. Referring to FIG. 2, whenthe machine body 31 is at the second vertical position, the axis of theelectric motor shaft 221 of the electric motor 22 is inclined backwardswith respect to the axis of the electric motor housing 21, that is, theelectric motor 22 is at the first inclined position with the inclinedangle of 1° to 10°. For example, the inclined angle may be configured as1°, 6° or 10°. In such a case, both ends of the drive belt 13 are fittedover the brushroll 11 and the electric motor shaft 221 respectively, butthe drive belt 13 is in the loosened state. Referring to FIG. 3, whenthe machine body 31 is at the second inclined position, the axis of theelectric motor 22 extends along the vertical direction, i.e. theelectric motor 22 is at the first vertical position, in which case thedrive belt 13 is tensioned.

When the machine body 31 is operated from the second vertical positionto the second inclined position with the predetermined angle, theelectric motor 22 may rotate synchronously with the machine body 31.When the electric motor 22 rotates by the predetermined angle, theelectric motor 22 is rotated from the first inclined position to thefirst vertical position, and the drive belt 13 is in the tensionedstate. After this, the machine body 31 may be operated freely by hand,and the drive belt 13 is in the tensioned state all the time, ensuringthe normal working of dust sweep and dust suction of the upright vacuumcleaner 1. When the machine body 31 is rotated from the second inclinedposition to the second vertical position by hand, the drive belt 13 isloosened, the upright vacuum cleaner 1 stops sweeping and sucking thedust.

Optionally, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theangle by which the electric motor 22 is rotated from the first inclinedposition to the first vertical position ranges from 3° to 8°. Forexample, when the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is in an initial state (i.e.the machine body 31 is at the second vertical position), a center axisof the electric motor 22 is inclined backwards by 3°-8° with respect tothe vertical direction (such as the up-down direction shown in FIG. 2),and when the machine body 31 is pulled backwards by hand, the electricmotor 22 rotates synchronously with the machine body 31 within aninitial angle range (3°-8°). When the electric motor 22 is rotated tothe first vertical position, the machined body 31 may be wiggled freelywithin a certain angle range so as to adjust the moving direction of theupright vacuum cleaner 1, and at this time, the upright vacuum cleaner 1starts vacuuming. When the machine body 31 is pulled forwards by hand,the machine body 31 is rotated from the second inclined position withthe predetermined angle with respect to the vertical direction to thefirst vertical position, the electric motor 22 is rotated from the firstvertical position to the first inclined position with the predeterminedangle, the drive belt 13 is changed from the tensioned state to therelaxed state and the vacuum cleaner stops vacuuming.

Preferably, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theangle by which the electric motor 22 is rotated from the first inclinedposition to the first vertical position is configured to be 5°. Thus,the drive belt 13 is tensioned to an appropriate extent, which not onlyensures the reliability and stability for operating the system, but alsoavoids accelerated failure of the drive belt 13 due to excessive tensionso as to extend the service life of the drive belt 13.

The upright vacuum cleaner 1 further includes a tensioning pulley 14 oran elastic element for adjusting the tension degree of the drive belt13. Referring to FIG. 2, a top wall of a brushroll casing 12 of theupright vacuum cleaner 1 is provided with the tensioning pulley 14. Thetensioning pulley 14 is located above the drive belt 13 and adjacent tothe brushroll 11 so as to adjust the tension degree of the drive belt13. Further, an inner top wall of the brushroll casing 12 is alsoprovided with the elastic element, and two ends of the elastic elementare connected to the brushroll casing 12 and the tensioning pulley 14respectively, so that the elastic element and the tensioning pulley 14may tension the drive belt 13 according to an actual working condition,thus ensuring the reliability of operating the system.

Thus, by disposing the tensioning pulley 14 or the elastic element inthe brushroll casing 12, not only the tensioning of the drive belt 13may be adjusted to make a transmission system operate reliably, but alsothe drive belt 13 may operate more stably to be prevented from slipping,so as to ensure the normal working of the upright vacuum cleaner 1.

In some specific embodiments of the present disclosure, the bridgingmember 32 and the machine body 31 are separately formed and connected byassembling. Referring to FIG. 1, a sleeve is dispose at a middle portionof the bridging member 32, and the bridging member 32 is sleeved overthe machine body 31 by the sleeve. Thus, when the machine body 31 ismanipulated by a user, the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is easy to changethe direction and is easy to operate.

In some other specific embodiments of the present disclosure, thebridging member 32 and the machine body 31 are processed and formedintegrally. Thus, an integral structure may not only ensure thestructural stability and performance stability of the upright vacuumcleaner 1, but also be convenient to form and easy to manufacture, andmoreover excessive assembly parts and connection processes are omitted,which improves the assembly efficiency of the upright vacuum cleaner 1greatly and ensures the connection reliability between the bridgingmember 32 and the machine body 31. Furthermore, the integral structurehas higher overall strength and stability, is more convenient toassemble and has a longer service life.

A rotation axis of the electric motor 22 is disposed non-parallel to arotation axis of the brushroll 11, the electric motor 22 drives thebrushroll 11 to roll by the drive belt 13. Specifically, as shown inFIG. 1, the rotation axis of the brushroll 11 extends along a horizontaldirection (a left-right direction shown in FIG. 1), and the rotationaxis of the electric motor 22 is disposed non-parallel to the rotationaxis of the brushroll 11. For example, the rotation axis of the electricmotor 22 may extend along the vertical direction (the up-down directionshown in FIG. 2), and may also be disposed obliquely with respect to thevertical direction. The drive belt 13 is disposed between the electricmotor 22 and the brushroll 11, the drive belt 13 is twined around theelectric motor shaft 221 of the electric motor 22 and the brushroll 11so as to drive the brushroll 11.

Optionally, the electric motor 22 may be disposed adjacent to the floor,that is, a center of gravity of the electric motor 22 is lower than thecenter of gravity of the electric motor 22 of the vacuum cleaner in therelated art, such that with regard to the vacuum cleaner having themachine body 31 of the same length, the upright vacuum cleaner 1 of thepresent disclosure is easy for the user to operate with less effort. Thestart and stop of the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is implemented by manualcontrol over a switch on the machine body 31 of the upright vacuumcleaner 1. When the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is started, the electricmotor 22 drives the fan and the brushroll 11 to rotate at the same time,thereby providing the power for dust suction. The user can completevarious operations simply and conveniently by one button.

Thus, by disposing the rotation axis of the electric motor 22non-parallel to the rotation axis of the brushroll 11, the volume of theelectric motor 22 may be reduced, thus reducing the occupied space ofthe upright vacuum cleaner 1, and facilitating diverse arrangements ofvarious parts of the upright vacuum cleaner 1. Moreover, the uprightvacuum cleaner 1 controls the brushroll 11 and the fan to rotate at thesame time by one electric motor 22, such that the number of parts isreduced, the occupied space is small, and the synchronous control overdust sweep and dust suction may be implemented. Furthermore, theelectric motor of the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is arranged vertically,which may reduce the occupied space of the upright vacuum cleaner 1 andfacilitate diverse arrangements of various parts of the upright vacuumcleaner 1. The upright vacuum cleaner 1 has a simple and compactstructure, occupies a small space and is easy to operate.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the rotation axis of theelectric motor 22 is disposed perpendicular to the rotation axis of thebrushroll 11, i.e. the rotation axis of the brushroll 11 is disposedperpendicular to the electric motor shaft 221, and the drive belt 13 isprovided at a twist angle of 90°. Referring to FIG. 1, the brushroll 11is arranged in the vertical plane, and the rotation axis of thebrushroll 11 extends along the vertical direction. The electric motor 22is disposed vertically in the electric motor housing 21, and theelectric motor shaft 221 of the electric motor 22 is disposed in thevertical plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the brushroll 11,that is, the rotation axis of the electric motor shaft 221 of theelectric motor 22 and the rotation axis of the brushroll 11 areperpendicular to each other. Thus, an upper half of the drive belt 13and a lower half of the drive belt 13 are both twisted between thebrushroll 11 and the electric motor shaft 221, and the twisted angle oftwo ends of each half of the drive belt 13 is configured as 90°.

Optionally, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectric motor shaft 221 of the electric motor 22 is disposedvertically. Specifically, the electric motor 22 mainly includes anelectric motor body and the electric motor casing 222. The electricmotor body is disposed in the electric motor casing 222, and mainlyincludes a motor core and the electric motor shaft 221. The electricmotor shaft 221 of the electric motor 22 is connected to the motor coreof the electric motor 22, and the electric motor 22 is arrangedvertically. When the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is under a non-workingstate, an upper end of the electric motor shaft 221 is inclinedbackwards with respect to the vertical direction (the up-down directionshown in FIG. 3). When the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is vacuuming, acenter axis of the electric motor shaft 221 extends along the verticaldirection, that is, the lower end of the electric motor shaft 221 of theupright vacuum cleaner 1 may extend downwards with respect to the motorcore along the vertical direction (the up-down direction shown in FIG.3). A first end of the drive belt 13 is fitted over the lower end of theelectric motor shaft 221, and a second end of the drive belt 13 isfitted over the brushroll 11. As the rotation axis of the brushroll 11is arranged in the vertical plane, the drive belt 13 is twisted at leastone time between the brushroll 11 and the electric motor shaft 221, i.e.the twist angle of the drive belt 13 between an alterable contact pointof the drive belt 13 with the electric motor shaft 221 and an alterablecontact point of the drive belt 13 with the brushroll 11 is configuredas 90°.

When the machine body 31 is at the vertical position, the axis of theelectric motor shaft 221 of the electric motor 22 is inclined backwardswith respect to the axis of the electric motor housing 21. In such acase, the two ends of the drive belt 13 are fitted over the brushroll 11and the electric motor shaft 221 respectively, but the drive belt 13 isin the loosened state. When the machine body 31 is at the inclinedposition, the axis of the electric motor 22 extends along the verticaldirection, i.e. the electric motor 22 is at the vertical position, andat this time, the drive belt 13 is tensioned. Specifically, when themachine body 31 is operated by hand from the vertical position to theinclined position, the lower end of the electric motor shaft 221 movesbackwards gradually, so that the distance between the lower end of theelectric motor shaft 221 and the brushroll 11 is increased, therebytensioning the drive belt 13.

The brushroll 11 includes a first brushroll segment 111 provided withbristle, a second brushroll segment 112 provided with bristle, and aconnecting shaft segment 113 connected between the first brushrollsegment 111 and the second brushroll segment 112. In other words, thebrushroll 11 mainly includes the first brushroll segment 111, the secondbrushroll segment 112 and the connecting shaft segment 113, in which anend of the first brushroll segment 111 and an end of the secondbrushroll segment 112 are connected to two ends of the connecting shaftsegment 113 correspondingly.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the brushroll 11 is rotatably disposedin the brushroll casing 12, and the electric motor 22 is connected tothe brushroll 11 so as to drive the brushroll 11 to rotate around itsrotation axis. Each of the first brushroll segment 111, the secondbrushroll segment 112 and the connecting shaft segment 113 of thebrushroll 11 is configured as a column shape extending along thehorizontal direction (the left-right direction as shown in FIG. 22). Aright end of the first brushroll segment 111 is connected to a left endof the connecting shaft segment 113, and a left end of the secondbrushroll segment 112 is connected to a right end of the connectingshaft segment 113. Outer side walls of the first brushroll segment 111and the second brushroll segment 112 may be provided with the bristle soas to clean the floor. The connecting shaft segment 113 is not providedwith the bristle so as to be convenient for connection with the drivebelt 13.

Furthermore, the drive belt 13 is twined around the electric motor shaft221 of the electric motor 22 and the connecting shaft segment 113 sothat the electric motor 22 may drive the brushroll 11 to rotate.Referring to FIG. 2, the electric motor 22 is disposed in the electricmotor housing 21 of the vacuum cleaner, and the electric motor 22 isconnected to the fan and the brushroll 11. The electric motor 22 maydrive the fan to rotate to generate the air flow, thereby providing thevacuuming power, and the electric motor 22 may drive the brushroll 11 torotate around its own axis, thereby implementing the objective ofcleaning the floor.

Referring to FIG. 2, the brushroll 11 and the electric motor 22 arespaced apart from each other along a front-rear direction, and thebrushroll 11 is located in front of the electric motor 22. The first endof the drive belt 13 is fitted over the electric motor shaft 221 of theelectric motor 22 and the second end of the drive belt 13 is fitted overthe connecting shaft segment 113 of the brushroll 11. When the electricmotor shaft 221 of the electric motor 22 rotates, due to frictionresistance between the electric motor shaft 221 and a belt surface ofthe drive belt 13, the electric motor shaft 221 drives the drive belt 13to rotate. Likewise, as the friction resistance is provided between theconnecting shaft segment 113 of the brushroll 11 and the belt surface ofthe drive belt 13, the drive belt 13 drives the brushroll 11 to rotatearound its own axis. Thus the electric motor 22 is able to drive thebrushroll to rotate.

Preferably, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thefirst brushroll 11 and the second brushroll 11 are symmetrical withrespect to the drive belt 13. That is, a length of the first brushrollsegment 111 in an axial direction is equal to a length of the secondbrushroll segment 112 in the axial direction. The first brushrollsegment 111 and the second brushroll segment 112 are symmetricalrelative to a central portion of the connecting shaft segment 113. Thesecond end of the drive belt 13 is twined around the connecting shaftsegment 113 and the first end of the drive belt 13 is twined around theelectric motor shaft 221 of the electric motor 22, i.e. the drive belt13 divides the brushroll 11 into the first brushroll segment 111 and thesecond brushroll segment 112 which are symmetrical in the left-rightdirection. Thus, not only the first brushroll segment 111 and the secondbrushroll segment 112 are subject to balanced resistance so as to ensurethe stability of the rotation of the brushroll 11, but also sweepingareas at both sides of the drive belt 13 are equal.

Furthermore, respective center axes of the first brushroll segment 111,the second brushroll segment 112 and the connecting shaft segment 113are in the same line. That is, the first brushroll segment 111, thesecond brushroll segment 112 and the connecting shaft segment 113 aredisposed coaxially. The electric motor 22 drives the first brushrollsegment 111, the second brushroll segment 112 and the connecting shaftsegment 113 to rotate at the same time. Thus, the electric motor 22 ofthe upright vacuum cleaner 1 may drive the fan, the first brushrollsegment 111, the second brushroll segment 112 and the connecting shaftsegment 113 to rotate at the same time, thus implementing a working modeof dust sweep and dust suction at both sides of the drive belt 13.Compared to the vacuum cleaner of the relate art that controls the fanand the brushroll 11 to rotate by two electric motors 22 respectively,the upright vacuum cleaner 1 has the simple structure and few parts,occupies the small space, and is easy to assemble and disassemble withthe high mounting efficiency, and moreover, the synchronous control overthe dust sweep and the dust suction may be implemented.

Furthermore, the upright vacuum cleaner 1 also includes the brushrollcasing 12 covering the brushroll 11. The brushroll casing 12 is providedwith a drive belt mounting cavity 123 for accommodating the connectingshaft segment 113 and the drive belt 13, and a first air suction flowpassage 1221 and a second air suction flow passage 1222 located at twosides of the mounting cavity and spaced apart from the mounting cavityin the brushroll casing 12. Referring to FIG. 7-FIG. 9, the brushrollcasing 12 is formed to be T-shaped, in which, the brushroll casing 12 isprovided with the first air suction flow passage 1221, the second airsuction flow passage 1222 and the drive belt mounting cavity 123 spacedapart from each other in the left-right direction in the brushrollcasing 12. The first brushroll segment 111 is rotatably disposed in thefirst air suction flow passage 1221, the second brushroll segment 112 isrotatably disposed in the second air suction flow passage 1222, and thedrive belt 13 is rotatably disposed in the drive belt mounting cavity123.

Optionally, the first air suction flow passage 1221 and the second airsuction flow passage 1222 which are spaced apart from each other aredisposed at the left side and the right side of the drive belt 13correspondingly, so that dirty air, dust and the like which are suckedfrom a dust suction inlet of the brushroll casing 12 may enter the firstair suction flow passage 1221 and the second air suction flow passage1222, then converge and flow into a dust cup 37. Specifically, the firstair suction flow passage 1221 and the second air suction flow passage1222 may be defined by parts disposed in the brushroll casing 12, andalso may be defined by an inner wall surface of the brushroll casing 12.Certainly, the present disclosure is not limited to this, the first airsuction flow passage 1221 and the second air suction flow passage 1222may also be communicated with each other, i.e. all the space in thebrushroll casing 12, apart from the space occupied by the drive beltmounting cavity 123, belongs to the first air suction flow passage 1221and the second air suction flow passage 1222, and the dirty air, dustand the like which are sucked from the dust suction inlet of thebrushroll casing 12 may be transported into the dust cup 37 through thedrive belt mounting cavity 123.

As shown in FIG. 11, each of the first air suction flow passage 1221 andthe second air suction flow passage 1222 includes a transverse airsuction flow passage segment and a longitudinal air suction flow passagesegment. The transverse air suction flow passage segment extends alongan axial direction of the brushroll 11, and the longitudinal air suctionflow passage segment extends along a direction which is perpendicular tothe axial direction of the brushroll 11 and is communicated with thecorresponding transverse air suction flow passage segment.

Specifically, the first air suction flow passage 1221 mainly includesthe transverse air suction flow passage segment located at the left sideof the connecting shaft segment 113 and the longitudinal air suctionflow passage segment located at the left side of the drive belt 13, andthe second air suction flow passage 1222 mainly includes the transverseair suction flow passage segment located at the right side of theconnecting shaft segment 113 and the longitudinal air suction flowpassage segment located at the right side of the drive belt 13.Moreover, a center line of each transverse air suction flow passagesegment is perpendicular to a center line of the longitudinal airsuction flow passage segment at a corresponding position.

Optionally, the first air suction flow passage 1221 and the second airsuction flow passage 1222 are configured to be L-shaped separately anddisposed back to back, and the drive belt mounting cavity 123 is locatedbetween the first air suction flow passage 1221 and the second airsuction flow passage 1222. When the brushroll 11 is mounted in thebrushroll casing 12, the first brushroll segment 111 may be rotatablydisposed in the first air suction flow passage 1221, the secondbrushroll segment 112 may be rotatably disposed in the second airsuction flow passage 1222, and the electric motor 22 drives the firstbrushroll segment 111 and the second brushroll segment 112 to rotatesynchronously by the drive belt 13.

Furthermore, the electric motor housing 21 defines a first branch flowpassage 2161 communicated with the first air suction flow passage 1221and a second branch flow passage 2162 communicated with the second airsuction flow passage 1222. Specifically, the electric motor housing 21is formed as a hollow column, and internally defines the first branchflow passage 2161 and the second branch flow passage 2162 which arespaced apart from each other. The electric motor 22 is located betweenthe first branch flow passage 2161 and the second branch flow passage2162, in which, a first end of the first branch flow passage 2161 iscommunicated with the first air suction flow passage 1221, a first endof the second branch flow passage 2162 is communicated with the secondair suction flow passage 1222, while a second end of the first branchflow passage 2161 and a second of the second branch flow passage 2162are communicated with the dust cup 37.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the rolling casing12 includes a lower casing 125 and an upper casing 124 connected to atop portion of the lower casing 125, and the first air suction flowpassage 1221 and the second air suction flow passage 1222 are defined bythe upper casing 124 and/or the lower casing 125. Referring to FIG. 2,the brushroll casing 12 mainly includes the upper casing 124 and thelower casing 125, in which, an lower end of the upper casing 124 isopen, and the lower casing 125 is detachably connected to the uppercasing 124 so as to close at least a part of an opening of the uppercasing 124 and so as to define the dust suction inlet between the uppercasing 124 and the lower casing 125. Furthermore, brushroll air suctionflow passages 122 spaced apart from each other in the left-rightdirection and the drive belt mounting cavity 123 for mounting the drivebelt 13 are defined between the upper casing 124 and the lower casing125, in which, the brushroll air suction flow passages 122 include thefirst air suction flow passage 1221 and the second air suction flowpassage 1222, and each of the first air suction flow passage 1221 andthe second air suction flow passage 1222 is not communicated with thedrive belt mounting cavity 123. Thus, debris such as dust may beprevented from being drawn into the drive belt 13, and the reliabilityof operation of the system is ensured. The brushroll casing 12 has asimple and compact structure, and the first air suction flow passage1221, the second air suction flow passage 1222 and the drive beltmounting cavity 123 spaced apart from each other are defined by thestructures of the upper casing 124 and the lower casing 125, which omitsexcessive pipes, makes the manufacturing simple and reduces the cost.

The upright vacuum cleaner 1 further includes an air inlet pipeassembly, in which, the air inlet pipe assembly mainly includes an airinlet pipe 51 and a hose 52. The air inlet pipe 51 is fixed to theelectric motor housing 21 and has a first end communicated with a dirtyair outlet 211 in the electric motor housing 21, a first end of the hose52 is communicated with a second end of the air inlet pipe 51, and asecond other end of the hose 52 is communicated with a separatingchamber 371 of the dust cup 37. Advantageously, a length of the hose 52may be larger than a length of the machine body 31, so as to extend theseparation time and the filtration time of the dust and dirty air, thusincreasing the dust suction capacity, so as to improve the workingefficiency of the upright vacuum cleaner 1. Further, a middle portion ofthe hose 52 may be hung on the machine body 31 to make the structurecompact. Optionally, the hose 52 may be configured as a plastic hose 52,or a rubber hose 52, so that coiling of the hose 52 is convenient,thereby saving the space and improving the space utilization.

A structure and a working process of the upright vacuum cleaner 1according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be described indetail with reference to FIG. 1-FIG. 23 in the following.

As shown in FIG. 1-FIG. 23, the upright vacuum cleaner 1 mainly includesa brushroll assembly 100, the electric motor assembly 200, the machinebody assembly 300, the clutch device 400 and a rolling wheel 38.

The brushroll assembly 100 mainly includes the brushroll 11 and thebrushroll casing 12, and the brushroll casing 12 mainly includes theupper casing 124 and the lower casing 125. The drive belt mountingcavity 123, and the first air suction flow passage 1221 and the secondair suction flow passage 1222 located at two sides of the drive beltmounting cavity 123 are defined in the brushroll casing 12. Thebrushroll 11 is rotatably disposed in the brushroll casing 12, the drivebelt 13 is movably disposed in the drive belt mounting cavity 123 andthe second end of the drive belt 13 is twined around the central portionof the brushroll 11.

Referring to FIG. 22, the brushroll 11 mainly includes the firstbrushroll segment 111, the second brushroll segment 112 and theconnecting shaft segment 113 which are disposed coaxially. The firstbrushroll segment 111 and the second brushroll segment 112 are connectedto the two ends of the connecting shaft segment 113 correspondingly. Thefirst brushroll segment 111 mainly includes a first body 1111 and afirst bristle 1112 provided to the first body 1111. The second brushrollsegment 112 mainly includes a second body 1121 and a second bristle 1122provided to the second body 1121. The second end of the drive belt 13 istwined around the connecting shaft segment 113 of the brushroll 11, andfurther, the brushroll casing 12 is provided with the tensioning pulley14 so as to tension the drive belt 13.

The electric motor assembly 200 mainly includes the electric motorhousing 21, the electric motor 22 and the fan (not shown). The electricmotor housing 21 defines an electric motor air suction flow passage 216and an electric motor air exhaust flow passage which are spaced fromeach other, and the electric motor housing 21 is provided with the dirtyair outlet 211 communicated with the electric motor air suction flowpassage 216 and a clean air inlet 212 communicated with the electricmotor air exhaust flow passage. The electric motor 22 is verticallydisposed in the electric motor housing 21 and is rotatable with respectto the electric motor housing 21, that is, the electric motor shaft 221of the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is arranged along the verticaldirection. The electric motor 22 is disposed in rear of the brushroll11, and the electric motor shaft 221 of the electric motor 22 isconnected with the brushroll 11 through the drive belt 13.

Specifically, the first end of the drive belt 13 is fitted over theelectric motor shaft 221 of the electric motor 22, the second end of thedrive belt 13 is fitted over brushroll 11. When the electric motor shaft221 of the electric motor 22 rotates, the electric motor shaft 221drives the drive belt 13 to rotate, and then the drive belt 13 drivesthe brushroll 11 to rotate around its own rotation axis. Thus, theelectric motor 22 is able to drive the brushroll 11 to rotate. Referringto FIG. 10, as the axial direction of the electric motor shaft 221 ofthe electric motor 22 is non-parallel to the axial direction of thebrushroll 11, the drive belt 13 between the brushroll 11 and theelectric motor shaft 221 is twisted once with the twist angle of30°-90°. Furthermore, the electric motor 22 may drive the fan to rotateso as to generate the air flow for dust suction, thereby providingupright vacuum cleaner 1 with the vacuuming power. The electric motor 22may also drive the brushroll 11 to rotate around its own rotation axis,thereby implementing the objective of cleaning the floor.

The machine body assembly 300 mainly includes the machine body 31, thebridging member 32 and the dust cup 37. The dust cup 37 and the bridgingmember 32 are provided to the machine body 31, and the bridging member32 is connected with the lower end of the machine body 31. Referring toFIG. 23, the bridging member 32 mainly includes two lateral plates 322and a top plate 321 disposed between the two lateral plates 322, and thetwo lateral plates 322 of the bridging member 32 are disposed outside alateral wall of the electric motor housing 21 and are rotatablyconnected with the electric motor housing 21. The rotatable rollingwheel 38 is disposed outside the two lateral plates 322 of the bridgingmember 32, so that the user may push the upright vacuum cleaner 1easily. The separating chamber 371 is defined in the dust cup 37, andthe dust cup 37 is provided with an air inlet 372 and an air outlet 373in communication with the separating chamber 371. The machine body airexhaust flow passage 311 is defined in the machine body 31. An airexhaust pipe 39 is disposed between the machine body 31 and the electricmotor housing 21, two ends of the air exhaust pipe 39 are communicatedwith the machine body air exhaust flow passage 311 of the machine body31 and the clean air inlet 212 of the electric motor housing 21respectively. The dust and debris sucked from the dust suction inlet ofthe brushroll casing 12 enter the electric motor air suction flowpassage 216 in the electric motor housing 21 through the first airsuction flow passage 1221 and the second air suction flow passage 1222,and then enter the separating chamber 371 of the dust cup 37 forfiltering process. The obtained clean air is discharged into theelectric motor air exhaust flow passage in the electric motor housing 21from the air outlet 373 of the dust cup 37 and is discharged to theexternal environment from an air exhaust hole 213 of the electric motorhousing 21.

The lever member 43 d of the clutch device 400 is rotatably provided tothe electric motor housing 21 and is fitted with the bridging member 32and the electric motor casing 222 of the electric motor 22, so that itis attainable that the bridging member 32 drives the lever member 43 dof the clutch device 400 to rotate and the lever member 43 d of theclutch device 400 drives the electric motor 22 to rotate.

Referring to FIG. 1, under a non-working state, the upright vacuumcleaner 1 may be vertically placed on the floor, that is, the machinebody 31 of the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is at the second verticalposition, which occupies the small space. When the user needs to use theupright vacuum cleaner 1, the handle of the machine body 31 may be heldby hand so that the upright vacuum cleaner 1 may be pushed to work.Firstly, the switch on the upright vacuum cleaner 1 may be switched onby hand, in which case the drive belt 13 is in the loosened state, andthe electric motor 22 is unable to drive the brushroll 11 to rotate,i.e. the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is in a standby state where thebrushroll 11 does not sweep the dust. Then the machine body 31 isrotated from the second vertical position to the second inclinedposition by hand, and in this process, the bridging member 32 on theelectric motor housing 21 rotates clockwise along with the machine body31 with respect to the electric motor housing 21. Hence, the bridgingmember 32 is able to drive the electric motor 22 in the electric motorhousing 21 to rotate through the clutch device 400 on the electric motorhousing 21, i.e. the electric motor 22 rotates from the first inclinedposition to the first vertical position, and in this process, the lowerend of the electric motor shaft 221 moves backwards gradually, so thatthe distance between the lower end of the electric motor shaft 221 andthe brushroll 11 is increased, thereby tensioning the drive belt 13. Theelectric motor 22 may drive the brushroll 11 to rotate through the drivebelt 13, thus reaching the objective of starting the actions of dustsweep and dust suction. Certainly, the present disclosure is not limitedto this, the user may rotate the machine body 31 from the secondvertical position to the second inclined position directly, in thisprocess, the drive belt 13 is tensioned gradually, and then the switchof the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is switched on, thus reaching theobjective of triggering the actions of dust sweep and dust suction atthe same time.

That is, the user just needs to turn on the switch to start or stop dustsweep by manipulating the direction of the handle of the machine body31. The operation is simple without need to operate a control panel.Optionally, the switch may be provided to the handle of the machine body31 to facilitate manual operations, and may also by provided to thebrushroll casing 12 or the electric motor housing 21 located below themachine body 31 to make it convenient for the user to switch on theswitch by foot. The electric motor 22 may be disposed adjacent to thefloor, i.e. the center of gravity of the electric motor 22 is lower thanthe center of gravity of the electric motor 22 in the vacuum cleaner ofthe related art, such that with respect to the vacuum cleaner having themachine 31 of the same length, the user may operate the upright vacuumcleaner 1 of the present disclosure more effortlessly and conveniently.

When the upright vacuum cleaner 1 is under the working state, the dirtyair, the dust and the like enter the brushroll air suction flow passage122 from the dust suction inlet of the brushroll casing 12, then enterthe the electric motor air suction flow passage 216 in the electricmotor housing 21 and is discharged into the machine body assembly 300through a dirty air output pipe 214 on the electric motor housing 21.The clean air filtered by the machine body assembly 300 enters theelectric motor air exhaust flow passage in the electric motor housing 21through a clean air input pipe 215 of the electric motor housing 21. Theair exhaust pipe 39 is disposed between the machine body 31 and theelectric motor housing 21, the two ends of the air exhaust pipe 39 arecommunicated with the machine body air exhaust flow passage 311 of themachine body 31 and the clean air inlet 212 of the electric motorhousing 21 respectively. The clean air filtered by the dust cup 37passes through the machine body air exhaust flow passage 311, the airexhaust pipe 39 and the clean air inlet 212 successively, enters theelectric motor air exhaust flow passage in the electric motor housing21, and is discharged to the external environment through the airexhaust hole 213 of the electric motor housing 21.

It should be noted that, when the machine body 31 is operated from thesecond vertical position to the second inclined position with thepredetermined angle, the electric motor 22 may rotate synchronously withthe machine body 31. When the electric motor 22 rotates by thepredetermined angle, the machine body 31 may be operated freely by handwithout influencing the tensioned state of the drive belt 13. That is,when the electric motor 22 rotates from the first inclined position tothe first vertical position, the machine body 31 may be operated freelyby hand without influencing the dust sweep and the dust suction of theupright vacuum cleaner 1. Certainly, the present disclosure is notlimited to this, and the rotation angle of the machine body 31 may alsobe directly related to the rotation angle of the electric motor 22. Thatis, by adjusting the inclined angle of the machine body 31, theadjustment of the position state of the electric motor 22 may beimplemented by hand, thereby realizing the objective of adjusting thetension degree of the drive belt 13.

Other configurations and operations of the upright vacuum cleaner 1according to embodiments of the present disclosure are known to thoseskilled in the art, which will not be elaborated herein.

Reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment,” “someembodiments,” “one embodiment”, “another example,” “an example,” “aspecific example,” or “some examples,” means that a particular feature,structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or exampleof the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrases such as“in some embodiments,” “in one embodiment”, “in an embodiment”, “inanother example,” “in an example,” “in a specific example,” or “in someexamples,” in various places throughout this specification are notnecessarily referring to the same embodiment or example of the presentdisclosure. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials,or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments or examples.

Although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it wouldbe appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above embodimentscannot be construed to limit the present disclosure, and changes,alternatives, and modifications can be made in the embodiments withoutdeparting from spirit, principles and scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A clutch device for an upright vacuum cleaner,wherein the clutch device is configured to be disposed between anelectric motor assembly and a machine body assembly of the uprightvacuum cleaner, the electric motor assembly is configured to comprise anelectric motor housing and an electric motor disposed in the electricmotor housing, and the clutch device comprises: a sliding trackconfigured to be driven to move by the machine body assembly; a togglingtongue configured to be fixed to the electric motor and rotatable withrespect to the electric motor housing; and a lever member having asecond end of the lever member slidably fitted to the sliding track anda first end fitted with an end of the toggling tongue; wherein themachine body assembly is configured to rotate with respect to rotatingaxis of the toggling tongue between vertical position and inclinedposition; when the machine body assembly rotates between the verticalposition and the inclined position, the machine body assembly drives thesliding track to move, the sliding track drives the lever member torotate, and the toggling tongue is moved to make the electric motorrotate with respect to the electric motor housing; wherein the togglingtongue comprises: a rotating portion, one of the rotating portion andthe electric motor housing being provided with a rotating shaft, and theother one of the rotating portion and the electric motor housing beingprovided with a rotating shaft hole configured to be rotatably fittedwith the rotating shaft; and a tongue portion, having a first endconnected to the rotating portion and a second end extending along acurve facing a direction away from the rotating portion, the second endof the tongue portion being fitted with the first end of the levermember.
 2. The clutch device according to claim 1, wherein a lower endof the sliding track is provided with a stopping block so as to preventthe end of the lever member from slipping out of the lower end of thesliding track.
 3. The clutch device according to claim 1, wherein thesliding track extends along a curve.
 4. The clutch device according toclaim 3, wherein the sliding track extends along an arc line of which acenter axis is configured as a rotation axis of the machine bodyassembly.
 5. The clutch device according to claim 1, wherein the firstend of the lever member is configured as a hook, and the end of thetoggling tongue is engaged in the hook.
 6. The clutch device accordingto claim 1, wherein the toggling tongue is integrally formed with theelectric motor casing of the electric motor.
 7. The clutch deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the lever member is rotatably connected toa side wall of the electric motor housing.
 8. The clutch deviceaccording to claim 7, wherein two lever members are provided andsymmetrically disposed to two sides of the electric motor housing.
 9. Anupright vacuum cleaner comprising: a brushroll and an electric motorassembly, wherein the electric motor assembly comprises an electricmotor housing and an electric motor disposed in the electric motorhousing, and the electric motor drives the brushroll to roll by thedrive belt and is rotatable between a first vertical position oftensioning the drive belt and a first inclined position of relaxing thedrive belt; a machine body assembly comprising a machine body and abridging member mounted to the machine body, wherein the bridging memberis rotatably connected to the electric motor housing so that the machinebody is rotatable between a second vertical position and a secondinclined position; and a clutch device, wherein the clutch device isdisposed between the bridging member and the electric motor, and whenthe machine body is moved from the second vertical position to thesecond inclined position, the bridging member drives the electric motorto move from the first inclined position to the first vertical positionby the clutch device; wherein the clutch device is configured to bedisposed between the electric motor assembly and the machine bodyassembly of the upright vacuum cleaner, and the clutch device comprises:a sliding track configured to be driven to move by the machine bodyassembly; a toggling tongue configured to be fixed to the electric motorand rotatable with respect to the electric motor housing; and a levermember having a second end of the lever member slidably fitted to thesliding track and a first end fitted with an end of the toggling tongue;wherein the machine body assembly is configured to rotate with respectto rotating axis of the toggling tongue between vertical position andinclined position; when the machine body assembly rotates between thevertical position and the inclined position, the machine body assemblydrives the sliding track to move, the sliding track drives the levermember to rotate, and the toggling tongue is moved to make the electricmotor rotate with respect to the electric motor housing; wherein thetoggling tongue comprises: a rotating portion, one of the rotatingportion and the electric motor housing being provided with a rotatingshaft, and the other one of the rotating portion and the electric motorhousing being provided with a rotating shaft hole configured to berotatably fitted with the rotating shaft; and a tongue portion, having afirst end connected to the rotating portion and a second end extendingalong a curve facing a direction away from the rotating portion, thesecond end of the tongue portion being fitted with the first end of thelever member; wherein the brushroll comprises a first brushroll segmentprovided with bristle, a second brushroll segment provided with bristleand a connecting shaft segment connected between the first brushrollsegment and the second brushroll segment, and the drive belt is twinedaround the electric motor shaft and the connecting shaft segment so thatthe electric motor drives the brushroll to rotate; wherein the uprightvacuum cleaner further comprising a brushroll casing covering thebrushroll, wherein the brushroll casing is internally provided with adrive belt mounting cavity for accommodating the connecting shaftsegment and the drive belt, a first air suction flow passage and asecond air suction flow passage are located at two sides of the mountingcavity and spaced apart from the mounting cavity, both air suction flowpassages are not air-communicative with the drive belt mounting cavity.10. The upright vacuum cleaner according to claim 9, wherein an angle bywhich the electric motor is rotated from the first inclined position tothe first vertical position ranges from 1° to 10°.
 11. The uprightvacuum cleaner according to claim 10, wherein an angle by which theelectric motor is rotated from the first inclined position to the firstvertical position ranges from 3° to 8°.
 12. The upright vacuum cleaneraccording to claim 9, further comprising a tensioning pulley or anelastic element for adjusting a tension degree of the drive belt. 13.The upright vacuum cleaner according to claim 9, wherein the bridgingmember and the machine body are separately formed and connected byassembling, or the bridging member and the machine body are integrallyformed.
 14. The upright vacuum cleaner according to claim 9, wherein anelectric motor shaft of the electric motor is vertically disposed, arotation axis of the brushroll is disposed perpendicularly to theelectric motor shaft, and the drive belt is provided with a twist angleof 90° and is twined around the electric motor shaft and the brushrollso that the electric motor drives the brushroll to rotate.
 15. Theupright vacuum cleaner according to claim 9, wherein respective centeraxes of the first brushroll segment, the second brushroll segment andthe connecting shaft segment are in the same line, and the firstbrushroll segment and the second brushroll segment are symmetricalrelative to the drive belt.